Pharmacological depletion of RNA splicing factor RBM39 by indisulam synergizes with PARP inhibitors in high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma.

Ovarian high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) is the most common subtype of ovarian cancer with limited therapeutic options and a poor prognosis. In recent years, poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors have demonstrated significant clinical benefits, especially in patients with BRCA1/2 mutations. However, acquired drug resistance and relapse is a major challenge. Indisulam (E7070) has been identified as a molecular glue that brings together splicing factor RBM39 and DCAF15 E3 ubiquitin ligase resulting in polyubiquitination, degradation, and subsequent RNA splicing defects. In this work, we demonstrate that the loss of RBM39 induces splicing defects in key DNA damage repair genes in ovarian cancer, leading to increased sensitivity to cisplatin and various PARP inhibitors. The addition of indisulam also improved olaparib response in mice bearing PARP inhibitor-resistant tumors. These findings demonstrate that combining RBM39 degraders and PARP inhibitors is a promising therapeutic approach to improve PARP inhibitor response in ovarian HGSC.

Differential Expression of RSK4 Transcript Isoforms in Cancer and Its Clinical Relevance.

While we previously revealed RSK4 as a therapeutic target in lung and bladder cancers, the wider role of this kinase in other cancers remains controversial. Indeed, other reports instead proposed RSK4 as a tumour suppressor in colorectal and gastric cancers and are contradictory in breast malignancies. One explanation for these discrepancies may be the expression of different RSK4 isoforms across cancers. Four RNAs are produced from the RSK4 gene, with two being protein-coding. Here, we analysed the expression of the latter across 30 normal and 33 cancer tissue types from the combined GTEx/TCGA dataset and correlated it with clinical features. This revealed the expression of RSK4 isoforms 1 and 2 to be independent prognostic factors for patient survival, pathological stage, cancer metastasis, recurrence, and immune infiltration in brain, stomach, cervical, and kidney cancers. However, we found that upregulation of either isoform can equally be associated with good or bad prognosis depending on the cancer type, and changes in the expression ratio of isoforms fail to predict clinical outcome. Hence, differential isoform expression alone cannot explain the contradictory roles of RSK4 in cancers, and further research is needed to highlight the underlying mechanisms for the context-dependent function of this kinase.

Local trauma in human patellar tendon leads to widespread changes in the tendon gene expression.

Low cellular activity and slow tissue turnover in human tendon may prolong resolution of tendinopathy. This may be stimulated by moderate localized traumas such as needle penetrations, but whether this results in a widespread cellular response in tendons is unknown. In an initial hypothesis-generating study, a trauma-induced tendon cell activity (increased total RNA and collagen I mRNA) was observed after repeated patellar tendon biopsies in young men. In a subsequent controlled study, 25 young men were treated with two 0.8-mm-diameter needle penetrations [n = 13, needle-group (NG)] or one 2.1-mm-diameter needle biopsy [n = 12, biopsy-group (BG)] in one patellar tendon. Four weeks later biopsies were taken from treated (5 mm lateral from trauma site) and contralateral tendons for analyses of RNA content (ribogreen assay), DNA content (PCR based), and gene expression for relevant target genes (Real-time RT-PCR) (NG, n = 11 and BG, n = 8). Intervention increased RNA content, and mRNA expression of collagen I and III and TGF-ß1 (P < 0.05), with biopsy treatment having greatest effect (tendency for RNA and collagen I). Results for DNA content were inconclusive, and no changes were detected in expression of insulin-like growth factor-I, connective tissue growth factor, scleraxis, decorin, fibromodulin, tenascin-C, tenomodulin, VEGFa, CD68, IL-6, MMP12, and MMP13. In conclusion, a moderate trauma to a healthy human tendon (e.g., biopsy sampling) results in a widespread upregulation of tendon cell activity and their matrix protein expression. The findings have implications for design of studies on human tendon and may provide perspectives in future treatment strategies in tendinopathy.